Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday urged voters in Assam to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in next month’s assembly polls, pitching the election as crucial to tackling illegal infiltration and ensuring peace and development in the state. Amit Shah was addressing an election rally in Dhekiajuli to drum up support for BJP candidates. (PTI)
Shah was addressing an election rally in Dhekiajuli to drum up support for BJP candidates from Darrang district, including cabinet minister and sitting MLA Ashok Singha.
Voting for all 126 assembly seats in Assam will take place on April 9, and counting of votes will take place on May 4.
“Don’t think you are voting to elect BJP MLAs or make Himanta Biswa Sarma CM again. You will be voting to rid Assam of illegal infiltrators, for peace and development, and to ensure that youths get jobs in the state itself without having to go outside,” said Shah.
Mentioning that there have been no shootings or blasts in Assam since the BJP came to power in 2016, he stressed that only the party’s government can ensure lasting peace in the state.
“What prevented Congress from signing peace deals with rebel groups despite being in power for so many years? In the past 10 years, we have put an end to illegal infiltration. But we haven’t been able to deport them. Please give us another five years to rid the problem once and for all,” said Shah.
Shah reminded the public that the state government has evicted illegal settlers from 49,500 acres of encroached government land and forests, including from sacred sites like the birthplace of Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardev.
“We have taken a pledge to rid Assam of illegal infiltrators... There’s special intensive revision (SIR) happening across India to weed out illegal infiltrators from voter lists. But Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi are opposing that. They should tell the public whether they are with illegal infiltrators or not,” he said.
The union home minister listed development projects completed in the state in the past 10–12 years, when the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014 and in Assam in 2016. He stated that between 2004 and 2014, the Congress government at the Centre gave ₹128,000 crore to Assam. In comparison, the BJP government under Narendra Modi provided ₹900,000 crore to the state from 2014 to 2024.
Shah is slated to address another election rally in Tihu later in the day. The union minister had arrived in Guwahati on Saturday, where he took part in a roadshow, and is expected to visit again before the end of campaigning on April 7.